Inner packing of corrugated board



A. GR EENBEl Q 2,314,491

March 23, 1943.

INNER PACKING OF CORRUGATED BOARD 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 22, 1942 m m a go [7 TTORN E Y March 23, 1943. A. GREENBERG 2,314,491

INNER PACKING 0F CORRUGATED BOARD File d May 22, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

HBBOT GREEIVBERG ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 23, 1943 Di STT ES are i'i" OFFICE INNERPACKING F CORRUGATED BOARD Application May. 22, 1942; Serial No. 444,070

4 Claims.

Thisinventionrelates to improvements in inner packings of corrugated board. and while adapted; for general application was primarily C9 '1ceived to facilitate .theshipment of relatively. small but, comparative-1y heavy; machine and accessorypartsjncident to.the war production pror m.

Itis quite commcmfor example, in theaviation field, for various accessories and parts of aircraft. to. be made by, different manufacturers and. shipped by. them,to. main assembly plants where the fuselage and other primary parts of theaircraft arebuilt, Starter motors for aviation engines are illustrativev of such practice. These starters are comparatively smallbut they are relatively heavy. and atthe same time, they embody fairly delicate mechanisms. which may be rendered inoperativeby'impact in shipment. unless; they arevery carefully packed, so as to preclude contact-between. difierent starters. The packing;which has heretofore been usedfor shipmentof these starters hasbeen very expensive and time, consuming and there has existed, an urgent need for some simplified. packing in order to keepup. withproductionand minimize costs.

Thepresent inventionis, a. complete answer to this requirement. l

Speaking generally, the invention consistsin a-cradle of. relatively heavy corrugated board. made from'..a,single blankwith minimum. waste of material. This blank. is. adapted to be folded to, form. the :cradle. The cradle may. be received within either. a wooden or corrugated board case, so as to support the starter firmly from the bottom, side and end walls of. the case and thereupon another cradle of. the same kind is invertedajnd placedontop. of, thearticle to hold itin, theif first cradle and spaced. fromthe top, sideandendwalls of the. case. The topwallof the case is then either nailedor folded and pastedj into place and the package isready, for shipment.

' An important featureof the. inventionresides in.the particular blank employed, and the man-.- ner of folding it,.so as toadequately support the starter in all directions, The resulting cradle is so constituted, as hereinafter more specifically described; that the finished package may besubjected to particularly hard knocks or actually-dropped; an appreciable distance Without" any harm to the starter contained therein. Thisis not only due to the strength of the packing in' thesupportofthe starter, but also to the reinforcement,Jat the. corners of the cradle by after detailed description and appended claims when readinconiunction with the accompany-v ing drawings.

The accompanying drawings. illustrate one practical embodimentof the invention, but the construction therein shown is tobe understood;

as, illustrative and not as defining the limits of the invention.

Fig. 1 is aplan View of a blank shown 'ascut' and scored and ready or folding. a

Fig. 2 shows certain portions ofv the blank. folded along certain of the scoredlines, indicated in Fig. 1.

Fig, 3.shows the blank completely folded to form one of the cradles of thisinvention,

Fig.4 is a central vertical longitudinal section thru a case wherein two of these cradles. are illustrated as; supporting a starting rnotor therein/ ready. for shipment; A

The blank shown in Fig. 1is preferably'made of corrugated board relatively heavyrand stiif, so as to properly carry and support the weight ofthe article'to be packed. The blank is scoredandcut appropriately to the particular article which is to be shippedtherewith. In the several figures of the drawings the score lines are shown as relatively light and they are illustrated in Figs. 1 and Z to show very clearly howthebl'ank is prepared and folded, 7 It will be noted'from Fig. 1 that the blank isprovided with two longitudinal score lines I spaced transversely fromone another and extending for the full length of the blank; These score lines define the lateralfledges of 'the main portion or body of the blank. Extending lateral- 1y 'beyond'these'score' lines aretabs 2, 3', 4; 5 and 6' which are separated *from one another by transverse slits or cut outs "I: These extend". from the score' lines l to the lateral" edges of theblank:

,Extending.' transversely of the bodyof the blank are transverse some lines 8, 9, H], H, 12-

and I3, Thescore lines'li, l-ll, H- and-l3 extend between the'scorelines I in line with the cut outsl, while the score lines 9; and. I2 extend entirely across-theblank medially of. the width of thetabs 3. and 5 and they alsovbisect cut outs Land l5 formedin. the blank to provide seats for the starter. The transverse score lines 8l3 and the longitudinalscore lines I divide'thebody of the blank into-seven areas, [6, ll, l8, I9,,flll, 2i andf22.

All of these areas are of the same size and shape except the area 22 which is somewhat narrower in the direction of the length of the blank altho it may be wider or of the same width depending upon the instrument to be shipped. The tabs 5 are preferably of a transverse length substantially equal to the width of the area 22 and consequently the width of the tab 6 for reasons which will be presently apparent. The longitudinal vedges of the tabs 5 may be parallel, but the longitudinal halves of these tabs are shown as sloped slightly for reasons hereinafter explained.

Blanks formed as shown in Fig. 1 are shipped flat to the manufacturer of the instruments and they are retained flat until they are to be used as an inner packing, whereupon the following steps of folding the blank are carried out:

The blank is first folded along all of the transverse scoring lines, the folding on the lines 9 and I2 being reverse to the folding on the lines 8, III, II and I 3, so that, when this reverse folding has been accomplished, the blank will appear as shown in Fig. 2. Here the areas I1 and I8 will collectively form one upright supporting wall 23, while the areas 20 and 2| will form a second upright supporting wall 24. The areas [6. I 9 and 22 will all he in the same horizontal plane and will collectively constitute a flat su porting base for the supporting walls 23 and 24. All of the tab portions 2-6 inclusive will remain no mal to the score lines I.

The next step of assembly consists in folding the tabs 5 to the right in Fig. 2, as indicated in dotted lines in this figure, and also folding the tab 3 to the left in a like manner. As each tab 5 or 3..is fo ded. as stated, the companion tabs 6 or 2, as the. case may be, are folded upwardly. so as to enter between .the folded flaps of the corresponding tab 5 or 3. as the case may be. see dotted lines at the lowerright hand corner of Fig. 2. Here one of the tabs 5 has been folded to the ri ht and atthe same time the adjacent tab 6 has been folded upwardly so as to enter between the two flaps of the tab 5. The length of the tab; 6 is such that it extends to practically the top of the fold of the tab 5. while the len th of the-tab-5ds such that it extends to the up ght outer edge of the tab 6. The other 1' correspondin tabs at the four corners of the blank are folded in the same way and thereupon the tabs 4 are folded upwardly into perpendicular relation to the area I9 and at the opposite lateral edges thereof. When the blank is thus fully folded, it will appear as shown in Fig. 3 at which time it' is complete.

In the preferred form of the invention adapted for the particular instrument referred to, I

have foundit' best to fold the tabs 5 in opposite directions, 1. e., toward the opposite ends of the blank aslshown; For the packing of some other instruments; 'it is desirable to fold the tabs 5 in a direction toward one another and cause them to straddle the'opposite end portions of 25, respectively, for the reception of an instrument.

In utilizing the folded blank as a packing, a cradle such as described is first placed into either a wooden or paper case having an open top, in. such manner that the cradle rests on the bottom of the case with the supporting walls 23 and 24 in upstanding position. A case of such size is used that the cradle will fit snugly within the upright walls of the case, with the areas l5, l9 and 22 resting flat on the bottom of the case.

In conventional corrugated cases with which the present invention is well adapted for use, the inside upright corners of the case are generally slightly rounded. It is for this reason that the free edges of the tabs 5 are inclined as shown for, when thus inclined, they produce the same effect as a beveling or chamfering of the four upright edges of the cradle, and thus compensate for the rounding of the case and enable the case to be used which will closely fit the other portions of the cradle.

After one of the cradles has been placed in upright position in the case, the instrument, indicated as a starter motor 21 in Fig. 4, is lowered into the case onto the seats 25 and 28'. This motor is shown in dot and dash lines as having an enlarged central portion 28 and somewhat smaller end portions 29 and 30. In this view the case 3 I, here illustrated as a conventional corrugated board case, is shown in dotted lines.

Inasmuch as the cradle has been designed to fit the particular motor 21 shown, the motor will come to rest in engagement with the seats 25 and 26 with the enlarged portion 28 of the motor snugly fitting between the supporting walls 23 and 24 and with the smaller end portions 29 and 30 resting on and extending beyond the seats.

A second cradle, which may be formed in exactly the same way as hereinbefore described with respect to the single cradle as shown in the preceding figures of the drawings, is thereupon placed in inverted position within the case, so that its seats 25-and 26 will rest upon the portions 29 and 30 of the motor with the top surface of this cradle substantially flush with the top of the case. If a corrugated board case is employed, the top flaps of this conventional case are thereupon merely folded down and pasted in position or secured in closed position by appropri-- ate adhesive tape to close and seal the case. If a wooden box is used as the case, the top is thereupon merely placed in position and nailed to the side walls of the box.

This completes the packing of the motor for shipment and experience has shown that it may be shipped with complete safety in a packing such as hereinbefore described. The interfolding of the tabs 3 and 5 over tabs 2 and 6 as shown in Fig. 3, gives a very rugged corner support for the cradle within the case. This is particularly so because the blank is of corrugated board so that, when folded as stated, the corrugations in the folded tabs 3 and 5 extend at right angles to the corrugations of the tabs 2 and 6 which they enclose, whereby the triple thickness thus provided possesses relatively great strength. Consequent- 13 if the case is dropped on a corner or on an edge, these portions of the cradles within the case will serve to so reinforce both the cradle and the case as to withstand the impact without release of or harm to the motor. I look upon this corner reinforce as very important for it is largely due to this that these starter motors have been safely delivered even when the handling thereof I was far from careful;

I have described the present invention as particularly useful for the packing of starter motors. With such motors, a cradle with two upstanding supporting walls 23 and 24 and each of which is provided with semi-circular seats 25 and 26 is well adapted for this instrument. However, with other instruments or machine parts, it is frequently desirable to have more than two such supporting walls and to make the seats 25 and 25 other than semi-circular. In any event the seats may be shaped to conform with the article to be shipped by merely changing the shape of the cut outs I4 and I shown in Fig. 1, while the number of upstanding walls may be increased by merely interposing in the length of the blank additional tabbed areas corresponding to the tabbed areas I'l-l8 or 20-2l, as will be clearly understood by those skilled in this art.

I have not thought it necessary in the foregoing description or in 'the drawings to show the case 3| in detail. Any. ordinary wooden box of appropriate dimensions may be used in this connection or if a corrugated case is employed the standard or conventional case, with folding top and bottom flaps to be glued down in overlapping relation, is thoroughly satisfactory and is in fact preferred.

The foregoing description sets forth the invention in its preferred practical form, but the invention is to be understood as fully commensurate with the appended claims.

Having thus fully described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1

1. In a packing of the character described, a blank of corrugated board having a central longitudinal portion provided with integral projecting tabs along its lateral edges, said central longitudinal portion of which is reversely folded on transverse lines to provide a succession of longitudinally spaced apart upstanding supporting walls spaced from one another and from the opposite ends of the blank and having cut out apical seats and connected at their bases to flat portions which are positioned between said upstanding walls and between said walls and the opposite ends of the blank and the lateral tabs of the blank being folded into right angular relation to said flat portions of the blank and to said supporting walls with the tabs of at least one of said fiat portions of the blank extending into the folds of the tabs which form continuations of the said supporting walls.

2. In a packing of the character described, a blank of corrugated board having a central longitudinal portion provided with integral projecting tabs along its lateral edges, said central longitudinal portion of which is reversely folded on transverse lines to provide a succession of longitudinally spaced apart upstanding supporting walls spaced from one another and from the opposite ends of the blank and having cut out apical seats and connected at their bases to flat portions which are positioned between said upstanding walls and between said walls and the opposite ends of the blank and. the lateral tabs of the blank being folded into right angular relation to said flat portions of the blank and to said supporting walls with the tabs at the four corners of the blank extending into the folds of the tabs which form continuations of the said supporting walls.

3. In a packing assembly of the character described, a pair of cradles each of which comprises a blank of corrugated board having a central longitudinal portion provided with integral projecting tabs along its lateral edges, said central longitudinal portion of which is reversely folded on transverse lines to provide a succession of longitudinally spaced apart upstanding supporting walls having cut out apical seats and connected at their bases to flat portions of the blank and the lateral tabs of the blank being folded into right angular relation to said flat portions of the blank and to said supporting walls with the tabs of at least one of said flat portions of the blank extending into the folds of the tabs which form continuations of the said supporting walls, said cradles being arranged in superimposed relation with the upper cradle inverted to form with the lower cradle cooperating supports for an interposed article embraced by the cut out apical seats of both cradles, and a case closely embracing and housing the thus assembled cradles.

4. In a packing assembly of the character described, a pair of cradles each of which comprises a blank of corrugated board having a central longitudinal portion provided with integral projecting tabs along its lateral edges, said central longitudinal portion of which is reversely folded on transverse lines to provide a succession of longitudinally spaced apart uptanding supporting walls having cut out apical seats and connected at their bases to flat portions of the blank and the lateral tabs of the blank being folded into right angular relation to said flat portions of the blank and to said supporting walls with the tabs at the four corners of the blank extending into the folds of the tabs which form continuations of said supporting walls, said cradles being arranged in superimposed relation with the upper cradle inverted to form with the lower cradle cooperating supports for an interposed article embraced by the cut out apical seats of both cradles, and a case closely embracing and housing the thus assembled cradles.

ABBOT GREENBERG. 

